Quiltertainment by Dara Ratliff

Independence Day changed for me over the years. I grew up with family bbqs and homemade vanilla ice cream, followed by a fireworks display at the local school fields. Fantastic!

But the meaning grew deeper when my husband became a Marine. We started his time with one child. He left two children to train in Okinawa for months, and came home to three. He left four children to serve in Kuwait and Iraq for months, and came home to five. We were always with him, he even carried five flags for our five children on his march to Baghdad.

In total, we gave nine years of service, from him and from our family. You see, when one member serves active duty, the whole family serves and sacrifices behind the scenes. We all gave to our country, and have a deep sense of reverence and gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy. 250 years of freedom🇺🇸

#250

It’s coming!!!

#250

Arch and I took a dream trip to India this past winter. I found color inspiration from the market in Jaipur, and selected colorful hand printed fabrics. I first found pattern inspiration from a structure surrounding Qutb Minar in Delhi, built 1199-1220. Amazing! We later saw the same pattern in many structures in various cities and time periods. A six pointed star surrounded by hexagons, I drew out the pattern and templates, and created this one of a kind memory quilt from our travels in India. It’s on display in my sewing room 😍.

Congratulations 2026 high school graduates!🎓Here’s a few graduation t-shirt quilts I made this year. It was especially fun to make one from Perry High School where all my kids graduated 😁.

This mom wanted her sons’ names on their t-shirt quilts, and I loved how they turned out!!! I used their clothing scraps and created block letters spelling“Angad” and “Veer”. I definitely would do this again, really fun personalization👍

This quilt only has 13 prints, but was expanded using blank sides and a border to increase the size. Once you quilt, the stitching design (cat paw prints) gives interest to the blank spaces. Purrrfect!